Recent reviews by Silencewalker

Propagation VR is a shooting gallery in a middle of a post-apocalyptic subway station swarmed with zombies. The game starts with a strong visuals and comfortable controls, but quickly deteriorates into an intense boredom.

The premise of the game is to stand in a middle of an empty platform and patiently wait for lone zombies to come at you out of a dimly lit environment. Player has (at least at the star of a game) a pump shotgun and a pistol to defend themself. Pistol helps to deal with zombies from a far at a cost a one mag per zombie at any level of marksmanship. The shotgun deals seemingly no damage at distant targets, so player has to wait for zombies to limp closer. Some zombies can also shoot back since being former police officers. And both sides has an infinite supply of ammunition.

The weapon handling feels fine for a hypercasual pew-pew. Yet the act of using weapons is meaningless. There is no reason to aim your shots, there is no viable advantage in firing at targets more than three meters away. Games tries to surprise player with sudden ambushes from the back or a rush of fast moving zombies. Yet it all ends with a shotgun shell in a face and a hasty reload.

And that's it. There is no movement around the location, no in-game events, no interesting escalation, nothing. If you want a dark twist on a Duck Hunt with no dog, then go ahead and play this game. Otherwise save yourself time for something more meaningful.

Outward is an open world survival action roleplaying game set in a low-fantasy settings. But these are just meaningless labels we put on things to categorize them in our own convenience.

Outward is what would be called back in 198x as “an average AD&D adventure”. Players start with a debt they must repay in five days. So they take pitchforks, bedrolls, firesteel and go out into the wilderness. Nobody is the Hero, and World will be just fine without you. But the world isn’t actively trying to challenge you or make you miserable.

And with this mindset player is presented with the most rational systems I’ve seen in years. Throughout the journey player character should drink, eat, sleep, repair equipment, discard spoiled food, manage encumbrance, complete quests and occasionally die in combat. Yet non of these activities are mandatory or fatal. An Overweighted and Thirsty character who is In Pain, has Indigestion and out of Stamina can still move on toward their goals without eating for several days. In-game systems doesn't force their way into the center of player’s attention. Instead they cooperate with occasional constraints applied at very moderate pace. Even death doesn’t disrupt the character’s story. As if an unseen GM took Wilderness Survival Guide (1986, TSR) and wrote a homebrew around it.

Yet the game has few shortcomings. Among them is inability to vault/jump and a very dated approach to world systems. While creatures out in the wilderness fight each other and move around, they don’t have any meaningful life cycles or interesting activities. Which is possible for a giant pistol shrimp but very unlikely for a human bandit. But Outward shines in small systemic details you can experience with another player in split-screen or online multiplayer. Like a limited budget of each merchant or getting hot from standing near a forge or watching over each others backpack during a hasty retreat.

Flotilla is a turn-based highly tactical space fleet simulator with a simultaneous turn resolution. I wrote the word "simulator" intentionally because this game allows to move ships in full 3D just like in the real Space.

It has been 6 years since the release, and the game pretty much represents what indie games were felt like back then. Visuals are very minimalistic but have a certain style and looks fine even today. Low-poly ships, asteroids and debris are complemented with comics and choose-your-own-adventure segments to narrate an action between tactical fights. The game is light-hearted with cheeky humor, maybe sometimes over the top. Classical piano music and game sounds won’t immerse you into a grimdark space battle, but serve their purpose.

Yet all this is an addition to the key game element – tactical space combat. The game disrupts the flow of a space fight every 30 seconds and allows a player to plan her actions ahead. Each ship can receive one of four possible orders and move in a straight line along any of six axis. While a ship can take a lot of damage in the front amour, the other parts are much weaker. This makes Flanking a priority tactic, which very fun to execute in a three-dimensional space. There are also various upgrades for ships to create a progression throughout the plot. Even today, when the space theme blooms and shines, it’s hard to find many space opera games with same level of simple controls and freedom of movement.

As I said, the game represent what the indie games looked like back than. A charming and small product is built around single idea, which it delivers rather well and satisfying. Of course, by the modern standards the game is too short and too unpolished and should have a multiplayer and… But hey, six years have passed. And the demo is still available.

Insurgency is a medium-paced tactical shooter that defines standards for a multiplayer in MMS. It combines simplicity and realism in a way when there is no artificial obstacles between you and immersive gameplay full of tension.

When you look on screenshots you may argue about textures quality, number of polygons, shaders and stuff, but in the middle of a game combat you don't care about textures on a crate beside you. You simply don't what to be distracted by anything because it may cost you your life. Important things like guns and characters models are well done, environment and light doesn't ruin your immersion and that's all you need, believe me or not.
Same thing with sounds. Each gun has unique sound and you can tell them apart in firefight. Each situation sounds different and you can understand is that simply someone's shooting nearby or he's shooting at you specifically. Everything else like music or ambient is used appropriately and doesn't interfere with gunfights.

Entire game is built around the notion that you want to experience real firefight and all elements help you to achieve it. Bodies, blood stains and bullet holes stay on a battlefield for a while so player can figured out how someone died and realized potential threat. Ironsight mode doesn't cover a half of you screen and even doesn't bother you at all. When you are in a cover, game seamlessly shifts your weapon, so you won't shoot in an edge of your cover. Sometimes it's better to suppress enemy rather than try to kill him... This game simply helps you to think and to act as a soldier.

I can't say this game is perfect because there is a several roughs and ways for improvement. For example devs should add tracer rounds in each mag, so player can tell when it will be empty beforehand. But even in current state this game humiliates most AAA MMS. I think this is #1 shooter for Oculus Rift or other VR system.